Versão portuguesa aqui.
GPS 41.39687708119584, -8.288205322522371
The Paço de São Cipriano is a Portuguese palace dating from the 15th century, located in the parish of Tabuadelo and São Faustino, a short distance from the city of Guimarães.
It rises between elegant and rich gardens, making a sober combination between historical and unquestionably important architecture and the beauty of nature.
Paço de São Cipriano has been classified as a Public Interest Building since 1977.
History
Like many old houses and manor houses in the Entre Douro e Minho Region, Paço de S. Cipriano must have its most remote origins in Roman villas.
On July 22, 1415, as evidenced by a transcription of the oldest known document, the Sottomayor family took possession of the house.
In its origins, the House was certainly small, like those of its time, having grown over time, due to the works that the same family undertook over centuries, maintaining a primitive part that still exists today. This did not happen in many other houses, especially in the 18th century, in which the initial construction was replaced by another in an erudite style.
Part of the wing of the palace where the «Cozinha Velha» (Old Kitchen) is located still survives today in the valuable architectural complex.
During the 18th century, this house was Lord Domingos Gonçalves Cibrão, who lived between 1704 and 1798, who as a great administrator, considerably increased the properties and undertook important works of recovery and flooding in the São Cipriano palace, completely rebuilding the valuable Chapel of Santo António, renowned historical and cultural landmark in Portuguese architecture.
At the end of the same century, the Cibrão family became connected with the Casa dos Santiagos, through the marriage of the heiress of the first family to D. João Santiago.
At the end of the 19th century, the last morgado of the palace, due to unexpected financial problems, sold the entire property, together with the palace, to his brother, Dr. João da Costa Santiago de Carvalho e Souza, who undertook large and dashing works.
Lord of Quinta de São Cipriano and a lawyer by training, João de Carvalho e Souza was the one who introduced the most alterations to the main building and surrounding spaces, giving the complex its current appearance. In addition, he tried to preserve the rich documentary and artistic assets that the palace held inside.
He removed poor-quality additions from the main house, the result of partial adaptations in the fashion of a bad time in architecture, and extended the two side wings that give it the characteristic "U"-shaped architectural style in which the turret is the main element, creating inside, a cozy and charming atmosphere.
This set includes different styles, marks of generations, which harmoniously give the House its «personality». João Carvalho e Souza also tried to modify the garden, already almost in ruins. He also had a large orchard and a vegetable garden planted at the back of the building. Such elements, still remain there today, in a farm that is described as a «time travel».
Dom João d'Almeida Santiago de Sottomayor, great-grandson of the last morgado, inherited the Paço de São Cipriano in 1955. With the constant changes of current times, it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain a property like a 15th century palace, with almost 600 years. With the possession of the farm, the current Lords of the same were implementing modifications.
The big change came in 1982. It was in this year, with the advent of Turismo de Habitação, that Paço de S. Cipriano, along with five other houses in the vicinity, opened the doors to this new way of doing tourism in Portugal, the so-called "rural tourism".
In 1999, it hosted the recordings of the telenovela A Lenda da Garça, produced by NBP and broadcast by RTP that same year.
Full list of Geochaching below: